Golden Cinderella
by Place to Try
Summary: Kinako, a tomboy whose secret is to be a princess, and Kuosu, an agent who relies on brute force is actually a gentleman! It's natural for a princess and a prince to be drawn to each other, right? But just like every other fairy tale, there's always an end... and not all of them are "happily ever afters".
1. Chapter 1

**Matsurei: Requested by Shindou Ranmaru! ^w^ Hope you like it! ...Multi-chapter... TwT I'm gonna give it my best...  
**

**Suginei: Ufufufufu -w-  
**

**Matsurei: O_O"  
**

* * *

"Ha! You gotta try harder, Tsurugi!" The light brown haired girl laughed, tilting her head to the side and winking, her usual pose whenever she greets people or whatever...

The former ace striker panted, wiping away a drop of sweat that was about to slide down his chin, a small smile forming. "Don't be conceited... next time, I'll definitely get back my rightful place as ace striker of Raimon." He said, smirking as the girl blinked a few times, slightly surprised that Tsurugi was being so competitive all of a sudden.

"Haha! Sure! Come at me with all you've got!"

"Right back at you."

Hamano sat onto the bench, more like, hurled himself onto it, "Ahh... so tired..."

"It's rare that you would say that..." Hayami commented, taking a sip of his water tentatively.

Hamano tapped Hayami's shoulder, then poked him in the cheek when the latter turned, smirking widely at the easy prey, "Whose fault is that, I wonder?" He asked, a wide smile still on his face. At that, Hayami's face turned into a crimson shade of red, pushing Hamano's hand away from his face. Stuttering so much that no one could make out what he was saying.

"Hey, Hayami, what are you trying to say?" Midori asked, arching an eyebrow impatiently at the two.

"Oh, you don't know? Last night, Hayami was so cute! He-"

"Ha-Hamano-kun!"

Kinako skipped over, her straight hair bouncing in a wavy motion behind her, her arms stretched out like an airplane, "Huh? What? What? Is this yaoi gossip I hear~?" She asked excitedly, looking from Hamano to Hayami in full body movement.

"N-n-n-no! You've got wrong!"

"Yaoi? What?" Hamano asked, in between laughs as Hayami's face became redder and redder.

"It's popular among the girls these days." Midori explained as Akane pulled out a copy of the "Momoiro Koi Shoujo" monthly magazine. It just so happened that the gray-purple braided hair girl was the junior editor of that series, though of course, no one knew since the time never seemed right to break the news.

"Hmm? So, Midori, you actually read these kind of steamy manga, huh?" Nishiki teased, flipping open a certain H page.

"Of course! I'm a fully mature girl ready for love as well, you kn- NISHIKI, YOU BETTER STOP LAUGHING THIS INSTANT OR I'M GONNA PUNCH YOU TO HEAVE THEN KICK YOU INTO HELL!"

While those two sorted their argument out, the others simply thought of them as background noise, since this sort of thing between them seemed to happen every day. "Ah, that's right! Captain, are we done?" Kinako asked, her golden brown eyes blinking extremely fast, thought quite cutely.

Tenma laughed, thinking that Kinako sort of resembles a puppy, "Yeah. You seem to be in a hurry... something came up?"

"Oh, not really~" An abnormally happy aura was emitting from Kinako... quite like the time when Fubuki made soccer mochi for everyone during the New Year's party.

"Well, if you're that happy about it, there's no point in delaying it much longer, is there?" Shindou put in kindly, hanging his towel around his neck.

"Yesss~~ thank you!" Kinako giggled happily as she skipped away.

"...Listen, I know Kinako's a very open minded girl and all, but..." Kirino started as soon as Kinako was out of earshot.

"That was sort of creepy, wasn't it? Even for her." Kariya put in, arching an eyebrow. "Something must be up."

* * *

Panting slightly with her uniform hanging over her arm, Kinako raced towards the school gates, her bright yellow sundress flowing behind her while her orange hairband sparkled under the moonlight. Her cheeks were slightly flushed by the time she arrived at her destination, "Sorry I'm late!"

And who but the Protocol Omega member was there to greet her? "Don't be silly, one minute is definitely not late." The purple haired boy insisted, patting his secret girlfriend on the head in an extremely gentle movement.

Well, who would have thought...

The odd relationship between these two almost seemed unlikely... okay, definitely seemed unlikely, but, it has happened, and it was the big deal.

While the secret couple were sharing these rare, short, but sweet moments where Kuosu would act like a gentleman and kiss Kinako's hand ever so lightly, escorting her onto his... bike, and Kinako would blush and giggle ever so softly as if she were a princess. Neither of their team would believe it, but they've always wanted to be like this... Kinako, who was supposed to be a tomboy, had always wanted to be spoiled like this... what was wrong about a girl wanting to feel like a princess once in a while?

It was hard to believe, but... again, it was true.

A few streetlamps away, Beta was leaning against a tree, her agent uniform taken away, she was left with her casual clothes, making her look nothing like the commander of Protocol Omega 2.0. She sighed, her purple eyes showed nothing but sadness, it disappeared in a flash however, when she heard footsteps heading towards her. "I am surprised, you, out of everyone else, would be okay with this scene, Beta."

"Alpha... why am I not surprised that you would be here?" Beta laughed, wiping away a tear that was sparkling near the corner of her right eye.

"...How long has this unrequited love been going on?" The former commander of Protocol Omega seemed quite calm even though he was facing this girl who had taken over his place. Well, in a way, they were in the same boat now, so there was no use fixing old grudges at the moment.

Beta's eyes narrowed slightly, "Hm, Alpha, you're quite nosy. I simply do not want to spoil their fun, I'm a fan of soap operas, after all."

"Is that so?"

"Yes."

The two former commanders fell into silence, but the moment was soon broken once more by Alpha, "Actually, I originally came here to tell you that the higher-ups have made their decision." He noted, turning to face Beta more directly.

"Oh?" Beta arched an eyebrow, prompting him to go on.

"In order to escape the fate of Eternal Prison, we must finish the final mission. Whoever completes it first successfully, gets a chance to kick Gamma's ass."

"My, my, what language, Alpha." Beta giggled in her deeper voice.

"...May the best win."

"Yes... indeed..."

With that, Alpha vanished into the darkness once more. Beta sighed as she watched him go. Sometimes, she wished she wasn't such an egoist.

* * *

The next day... Kinako ran out of her house to greet Kuosu, who was always waiting there for her, escorting her to school. But not today... no matter where she looked, Kuosu was no where to be seen. _Huh? This is weird..._ Kuosu would never make her wait... at least not for this long...

In the end, Kinako had to walk to school herself, she couldn't pay attention at all in class, wondering if something had happened to her secret boyfriend. "He couldn't have been found out by his team mates already, right?" She mumbled to herself worriedly as she got dressed, half an hour earlier before the others, this was the rule, after all.

As she exited from the locker room, she was surprised to see everyone already gathered outside, though still in their normal school uniforms. They seemed to be gathered around a very familiar looking guy... he had some kind of communication device clipped to his right ear, much like those in Protocol Omega... "Kuosu!" Kinako blurted out, though stopped herself from tumbling out personal questions that would make the others suspicious about their relationship.

"Hm?"

"W-what are you doing here?!" Kuosu's pale eyes narrowed dangerously, then out of no where, a ball flew out and hit Kinako squarely in the chest, "Oof!"

"So noisy... it's my own business where I go, right? Pssht."

"K-Kuosu?" Kinako clenched her teeth as pain vibrated from her chest. Why? How did it turn out like this? Everything was normal just yesterday...

"Hey! Have some pity on A-cup girls!" Midori lashed out, first to reach Kinako and helping her up slowly.

It wasn't the time to sweat drop at Midori's comment, but that's what the others did anyways. Quickly recovering after wards, of course, each turning on Kuosu, "Where are the others?"

"Planning an ambush, perhaps?"

"Humph. Like I said earlier, it's my own business where I want to go." Kuosu repeated, sneering at the Raimon team before turning away, leaving Raimon grounds.

"...What's with that jerk." Midori cursed as Kinako looked down at the ground. Tears were forming in her eyes, but she wouldn't allow them to escape her grasp, no matter what. Still, the sudden change of Kuosu's attitude bothered her to no end.

* * *

**Dong... Dong... Dong...**

**After the bell tolls twelve, everything will vanish...  
**

**Just like a dream.**_**  
**_

_**...The first bell has chimed.  
**_

* * *

**Matsurei: And so, this fic may become a collab between Shindou Ranmaru and I, so, stay tuned~**

**Suginei: ...  
**

**Matsurei: What?  
**

**Suginei: I've been wondering... why don't you ever do that with me?  
**

**Matsurei: ... Man, this seems kind of yuri.  
**

**Suginei: What are you thinking, idiot =.=  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: This chapter was written by Shindou Ranmaru~ Nice work! ^^**

* * *

During practice, Kinako couldn't help but think of Kuosu's sudden change of attitude towards her. Her plays were not as lively and energetic as before. Actually, more like not lively at all.

"What's wrong, Kinako?" Tenma asked her. "Is something bothering you?"

She looked at her captain, tears suddenly streaming down her face. "N-nothing's wrong, captain." She sad while wiping her tears as she forced a smile.

"It doesn' t look like nothing." Kirino came from behind her.

"We're ending practice here, guys." Tenma announced as he scratched the back of his head. "I mean, look at us. We can't beat anyone right now, not like this."

His announcement made Kinako open her mouth, as to object, but she shut it immediately. "I agree with you, Tenma." Fei said. "And it's not just her that's lost her focus. In fact, everyone has."

"That's true." Shindou stepped into their conversation. "Isn't that right, Ki-" He turned his head to a direction only to find that his childhood friend has gone missing. "Kirino?"

"Kirino-senpai went to the bathroom." Kinako told them blankly. "I'll go to the bathroom now." She left the field to go to the girls' bathroom.

When she was there, she started sobbing and turned on the tap, hoping it was loud and hard enough to echo throughout the entire bathroom and drown out her sobs.. And then, upon hearing a stall unlocking, she stopped and splashed water on her face. She wiped her face with a towel that was conveniently placed inside a bag that she brought with her shoved it back in before seeing the stall door open to reveal her pink-haired upper class man- er, woman- exiting it. She wasn't surprised at all.

Kirino let out a quiet yet high-pitched shriek upon seeing Kinako. "Kinako, please don't tell anyone about this!"

Finally, something that made Kinako smile after that depressing practice. "Don't worry, Kirino-senpai, I won't tell anyone. I already know."

At this point, the second year was the same color as her hair. "Y-you do? How embarrassing!"

"Yeah. But I just had a hunch that you were female, so I thought you were a girl. Because you look like a girl, you talk like a girl, you act like a girl, and you move like a girl." The brunette grinned. "Now, why are you pretending to be a boy, Kirino-senpai?"

"It's kind of a long story... but I would like to know why you're sad more."

* * *

_"You can't fall in love with that girl. She is the mother of that green-haired boy your team hates so much!" A man with a long white beard wearing a heavy white cloak told Kuosu._

_"T-that's a lie!" Kuosu replied, pretty much yelling at the taller man. "She can't be!"_

_"No, it's not a lie." The man folded his arms. "Nanobana Kinako is Fei Rune's mother. And she is also..." He lowered his hood and removed his beard to reveal pale green hair and blue eyes which are very much like Fei's. "...my wife." He sighed. "I never show my face to anyone, but I just thought I needed to show you because of what I found out about you."_

_"Why is she still a young girl, then?"_

_"Because that is her past self." The man put his hood and beard back on and turned away from Kuosu. "You will understand many things eventually." _

Kuosu, filled with anger, sadness, and envy, kicked the soccer ball he had in front of his foot hard. His kick was hard enough to destroy at least fifteen trees in the forest Protocol Omega 3.0 was training in, some of which were the trees his teammates were using at practice targets. After that kick, he panted, slightly relieved that he took out all those emotions filling him and also because he was exhausted.

"Hey, what gives?" Bahamusu asked him, slightly angrily. "Are you mad or something?"

"It's none of your business, Bahamusu." He replied, picking up a soccer ball. "Now leave me alone." And with that, he left.

Gamma noticed the purple-haired boy's behavior. Thinking that he should help, he approached him and tried to talk to him. "Kuosu? Is anything the matter? I think I can he-"

Not wanting to hear any more bullcrap from anyone, Kuosu kicked the soccer ball to his third captain's stomach. "Leave me alone!" He yelled as he reclaimed his soccer ball and kicked Gamma on the side before leaving to go to a clearing in the forest.

"I just wanted to help you." Gamma said, sympathy evident in his voice. "Normally I would show a vain persona, but that's just because I wanted to let people think that. But really, I'm not like that. I have a heart, you know, so I wanted to help."

With Kuosu, he sat on a boulder that sat beside a stream in the clearing he was in. Thoughts of what that man told him spun around his head. Kinako married? Her having a child which was Fei Rune? That man he talked to being her husband? How was this possible? Then he just remembered that time travel made all that possible.

"Hello, Kuosu." A familiar and rather booming voice said from a distance. "Still thinking of that girl, huh?"

Shocked, Kuosu turned around to see Zanark.

"W-what makes you think I was thinking about her?!" He asked, shocked to have Zanark know what he was thinking.

"Oh, I know." Zanark replied. "And I know just how to make that go away." He held out his Sphere Device and pushed a button.

"MIND CONTROL MODE."

A beam of light surrounded the two of them. Kuosu suddenly felt his vision blur and his mind go fuzzy. Then his head and chest felt lighter since the two felt really heavy when he had that conversation with Asurei. And after a while, he was...different. His hair was a dark shade of teal, his skin ruddy, and eyes red as a siren alarm. He formed a smirk.

Zanark was delighted with what he had done and let out an evil grin. "So, Kuosu, are you ready to destroy Raimon?"

"Yes, Master Zanark."

* * *

**Alternate Ending**

"MIND CONTROL MODE."

A sharp pain went through Kuosu's head. He winced at the pain and placed his hand on his head.

"Feeling any better yet?" Zanark asked.

"Wh-what's happening?" Kuosu asked. Then an even sharper pain kicked in. With that, he went on his knees and screamed, both hands clutching onto his aching head.

"You're losing your memories of that girl." Zanark replied evilly. "And they're eventually gonna be overwritten by thoughts of Raimon being the bad guys."

Not wanting to forget Kinako, despite having forgotten about some green-haired man under the guise of a bearded cloaked figure, Kuosu looked at Zanark with pleading eyes. "Make it stop!" He screamed, still feeling the pain. The pain got worse with each second. And there was nothing he could do to stop the pain.

And then finally, he blacked out.


End file.
